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The great Indonesian
seminar culture
(The Jakarta Post, 11 October 2006)
“A great seminar culture
prevails – a seminar culture, which, although
conducive for networking, information sharing,
debates and discussions, is also contributing
to inertia and disconnect.
A disconnect between the environment of seminars
(cozy, congenial and optimistic) and the realities
on the ground (often harsher, requiring hard
decisions and urgency of action). Inertia also
from the endless seminar debates that delay action
on small but concrete steps that form the basis
for real change.
There is a clear downside to the seminar culture
in which working papers become a substitute for
work, when grand designs and objectives replace
mundane but real issues and when the open-ended
nature of discussions supercedes the importance
of closure and implementation.”
“Perhaps it is also timely
to start acting on prescriptions rather than
to only continue talking about diagnosis. Also
focus on the quality of the broth rather than
on the many cooks and stirrers.”
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